Celtics center Shaquille O'Neal has apologized to teammates Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, the Big Three, for missing practice on Monday.

O'Neal said that after Friday's game he misread the message on the grease board in Boston's locker room and didn't realize the team was practicing before it's flight.

"It was a miscommunication," he said. "The only thing I saw on the board was flight at 3. That's all. I never miss practice."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers gave his players the weekend off and missing practice gave O'Neal three days off.

"I apologized to the Big Three but not anyone else," O'Neal said. "I just apologized to the generals whom I'm consulting. It's not a big thing. It's not like I'm one of those players who said [forget] it, I'm not coming to practice today. But it won't happen again."